CBC-Sports

Winter Classic lacks Canadian appeal

December 29, 2009 11:06 AM | Posted by   Craig Simpson  

As the NHL prepares to invade legendary Fenway Park in Boston for its latest edition of their Winter Classic outdoor game, I can’t help but think back to where the Classic idea all began.

Much like the roots of the game itself, the Outdoor Classic idea began in Canada, with the hugely successful Heritage Classic on Nov. 23, 2003. Commonwealth Stadium played host to the most celebrated franchise in hockey, the Montreal Canadiens, against the dynasty team of the 1980s, the Edmonton Oilers.

The idea was that in November, there would be a good chance of a comfortable temperature for an outdoor game, while waiting until New Year’s Day the weather would make a game impossible. As fate would have it, Nov. 22, 2003, would set a near record low with the wind chill taking the temperature down into the -30s Celsius. In many ways, the frigid weather made the Heritage Classic an event to remember, and the hockey crazed fans of Edmonton part of NHL folklore.

For me, broadcasting the 2010 Winter Classic for HNIC will allow me to be four-for-four in NHL outdoor games. In my opinion, there was nothing quite like the Heritage Classic though. Getting a chance to play a game in front of over 57,000 Edmonton fans with my old teammates from Stanley Cup winning years was a bit like reliving a favourite part of childhood. Sharing the ice with Montreal Canadiens greats like Lafleur, Robinson, Savard and Shutt and Oilers legends like Gretzky, Messier, Kurri and Coffey was a huge thrill. As an assistant coach with the Oilers, being a part of an actual NHL game being played outdoors, in such frigid temperatures with so many fans braving the elements to cheer on their team was a great example of the power of hockey in our country.

As a broadcaster, I have really enjoyed the experience of the last two “Winter Classics”, as they have been labelled and sold by the NHL. The name itself has a much different connotation. It’s not celebrating the game’s heritage like was the theme in Canada; it’s celebrating the fact that the game is being played outdoors, and in the winter.

The first Winter Classic was a great spectacle, with the intimate surroundings of an NFL stadium in wintery Buffalo painting a picturesque setting. With snow falling down in giant billowy flakes, Sidney Crosby ended the first Winter Classic game in storybook fashion with a shootout goal through the falling snow.

Last year, the theme was an Original Six matchup on a historic site. Wrigley Field in Chicago was the perfect host to the Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings against the Chicago Blackhawks. The Hawks had rebuilt their team from the depths of the NHL and in doing so brought back their fans. The game itself was by far the most competitive as the ice conditions were good, the weather co-operative, and with two good teams from big American markets, it gave the ratings in the U.S. their best numbers in 13 years.

This year, the Winter Classic seems to be more about the venue, than it does the matchup, and once again, shows to the Canadian teams and their fans that in today’s NHL, we don’t matter. For the third year in a row, we have an all-American matchup, and unlike in Buffalo, where Crosby, Malkin and company were the marquee draw, or in Chicago where Wrigley Field and the Original Six could be the storyline, Fenway Park is the only real draw for the average fan.

Although Boston and Philadelphia are good teams, and they do at least have a Stanley Cup history (in 1974 Philly won the Cup over the Bruins to become first expansion team to capture the league's championship), this matchup lacks the draw power and intrigue of the previous two. The fact that Canada gets ignored once again in the process should anger every single Canadian fan. While hockey is alive and well in our country, and the six Canadian teams are amoung the top 10 in revenue, the league continues to ignore our fans. The CBC who shells out significant rights fees has no home market to broadcast to for the third consecutive year. It doesn’t make sense, and it doesn’t seem right.

I guess it is all in a name. In Canada, the outdoor Classic was all about the heritage of the game. Two great Canadian teams, Montreal and Edmonton outdoors celebrating their past with a legends game, and their present with the first NHL regular-season outdoor game. It was the Oilers celebrating their 25th year in the NHL, and the 20th anniversary of their first Stanley Cup.

This year’s version of the Winter Classic, seems to be more about having a hockey game in a famous building with a history that “hockey” has nothing to do with.

Somehow, it just doesn’t seem right.

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